Over the recent years, Kenya has witnessed terror attacks from the Islamist militants Al-Shabaab who have links to Al-Qaeda. They recently claimed responsibility of the attacks launched at the coastal town of Lamu saying that it is a revenge for the Kenyan forces being in Somalia and the killings of radical Muslim clerics at the coast, with the Mpeketoni attack being the worst that saw over 65 lives lost, economic sabotage and torching of houses.
In Nigeria, similar attacks have been carried out by Boko Haram- a terror group which is based in Northern Nigeria that abducted over 200 school girls. In Nigeria, villagers of the farming community of Daku vividly explain how they were surrounded by at least 20 gunmen who indiscriminately opened fire and torched houses using petrol bombs. The Mpeketoni attack was almost similar to that in Nigeria, they set ablaze banks, business premises, vehicles and also houses belonging to the villagers living in that community.
Both Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab are Islamist terror groups that have set a platform for the rise of Jihadism and emboldened terrorism which may hinder the economic growth that Africa has set to achieve.
There has been a swift rise of Jihad groups for instance the ISIS/ISIL( Islamic State in Iraq and Syria/ Levant) in Iraq and this has captured the attention of the media over the past few months with a lot of speculations that the group may generate to another terror group which may down play world security.
In the African context, the militant groups have been replicating rapidly, setting up new attacks in the North, West and East Africa in the last one year. In effect what we are seeing in Africa is a seminal shift in the evolution of Al-Qaeda- mentored Islamist militancy which is resilient and steadily growing. The growth should spark talk among African states on how to curb this worrying trend because these groups have gained ground and conventional capabilities on multiple fronts which clearly poses huge existential risks to states in Middle East and Africa as well.
The resurgence of the Islamist militancy puts forward a lucid picture of how there is a gross failure or lack of containment strategies to halt terror attacks within the African states. In Kenya, there has been reports that Al-Shabaab take advantage of the serious unemployment situation in the country to recruit the youth into the militia group and offer training to these young recruits who later are sent for terrorism missions.
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Most of the active militant groups espouse a fanatical strain of Salafism-an amalgam of ultra-conservative teaching that have their origins in the Arab peninsula and the Indian sub-continent. These groups view themselves as pure and they want to spread their ideology to the global stature which will finally create Islamic states. More worrying is how various groups are creating links within themselves, exchanging expertise and intelligence.
Many of African states, bedevilled by systemic and structural weakness, remain particularly imperilled. Increasingly, the jihadists have found means and ways to survive, as they cleverly exploit the vulnerable youthful generations by recruiting them and opening up centres for radicalisation where training is offered. They have shown that they can challenge any African states monopoly in politics and governance by creating violence in many states. The North, especially in Libya, Jihadist affiliated to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), this group has grown a clear indicator of hallmarks of a creation of country failing to curb the jihadist ideology. Over the past two years since the overthrowing of the Gadhafi regime, the group has evolved and taken control of huge quantities of lethal weaponry, some of which end up in the hands of militants and insurgents in the Sahara and West Africa region.
If the current governments do not contain the situation, Somali- like scenarios will be on the rise as these jihadists will be fuelling violence and finally get to control territories. The fragile states are Mali and Niger, where over the past years the Islamist groups’ affiliated or mentored by AQIM are rapidly expanding. Mali is becoming an important transit base and logistical hub for Nigeria’s Boko Haram according to experts from the United States. The town of Diffa, which borders Mali and Nigeria has been a key conduit for Boko Haram.
Kenya and Nigeria are an example of African countries that are struggling to curb the growth of militant groups, Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram. To prune off the leafy buds of terrorist groups, both countries will have to show commitment. Why am I saying this? Because these groups are today better armed, highly radicalised and they seem to have a glowing desire to launch fatal attacks beyond their strongholds and hubs.
In Kenya and Nigeria, the militant group have shown a close pattern in their attacks which hold similar characteristics of steering inter-religion hate, undermining economic and social cohesion. The two countries Kenya and Nigeria seemingly have not put good military or security systems in place which raises alarm and despondency.
Ahead of the 2015 elections in Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan risks being voted out due to the failure of his government to contain the Boko Haram militia group in the north. In Kenya, the opposition has risen eyebrows through culmination of rallies on how President Uhuru's government has failed in the fight against the Al-Shabaab.
